South Africa: Closed consultation on Competition Commission Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry

On 20 April 2023, the public consultation closed on the Competition Commission of South Africa Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry. The inquiry will focus on the distribution of news content produced by media companies on digital platforms and the news aggregation services provided by the platforms. In particular, the Commission aims to investigate whether the practices employed by the platforms to distribute news content distort, impede or restrict competition. The digital platforms that would be investigated include search engines, social media platforms, news aggregator websites and applications, video-sharing platforms and generative AI services, such as ChatGPT. Furthermore, the Commission will investigate the South African news media companies' interaction and dependency on digital platforms as a distributor, intermediary and link to online users for content distribution and the impact that the relationship has on the news media companies' ability to aggregate, create display and monetise the content created. Following the inquiry, the Commission will issue recommendations and adopt remedies to address practices that harm competition.